As one way to create a peaceful and conflict free society, community structures at Nsundwe in Lilongwe, Malawi, have been drilled on how they can help to maintain peace through mediation.
The training was conducted on Tuesday through the PhD Research Project which Mr. Joseph Dzuwa is doing at Durban University of Technology (DUT) in South Africa.
Speaking after the training, Research Assistant Comfort Supedi said the training is one of the interventions in the research project.
He said lack of peace building skills and knowledge by community structures results in violence during conflicts.
“If community structures are trained in peace build and conflict prevention, it will reduce violence in a society”, said Supedi.
He was very impressed with the way trained was conducted and the interests participants had saying will have impacts in creation of violence free community.
“Those who have received this training will be the agents of change that values culture and peace which will result in reducing conflicts and violence”, he added.
In her remarks, Traditional Authority M’bwatalika commended the intervention which targeted her area saying it will help to reduce violence, crime and reduce cases where people take the laws in their hands.
She was also very happy with the inclusion of women during the training who play the big role in the society in as far as mediation, Peace and Security is concerned.
She requested Mr. Dzuwa to organise similar training which will target all chiefs under his jurisdiction.
“Most people in my area including chiefs provoke violence because of lack of mediation skills when handling cases, so I would wish if you train them as well” , she said
Focal Person for Femmewise Africa Malawi Chapter Meble Segula who was one of the facilitators said such community engagement in preaching Peace is very important in the country because it builds sustainable Peace.
“Through such training, people will know how to manage conflicts and gender based violence which assist in creation of peaceful nation*, said Segula.
She emphasised on the need to target the youth with such trainings in future because they are the ones who are mostly used by politicians to engage in violence.
Chairperson for Nsundwe Community Policing Forum (CPF) Dovico Lebian said they need such trainings frequently because they can help to improve poor relationship that is there between the Police and Community.
The training targeted community structures with representation from development committees, Youth , faith groups, Women, disability, business, community Policing Forum and chiefs and reached out to over 60 participants.
In 2019, there was violence in the area after general elections where a Police officer was killed. The research found that the elections were not a pure cause of the violence but lack of knowledge and skills by community structures on Peace Building and Conflict Prevention.
Mr Joseph Dzuwa is doing a PhD in Management Sciences, Public Administration -Peace Studies at Durban University of Technology in South Africa.
The title of the research is reducing conflicts between the Police and Community in Nsundwe Community.
